Every year from the more than 300 books we review on this website, we choose the Best Spiritual Books. In addition to 50 adult books, we also include 10 Best Spiritual Children's Books.
These are titles that have most impressed and inspired us. Since we only review books that we want to recommend to you for your spiritual journey, this selection actually represents the best of the best. Through diverse approaches, drawing upon the wisdom and practices of the world's religions, these titles explore the quest for meaning and purpose, wholeness and healing, commitment and community, contemplation and social activism.
We congratulate the authors and publishers of these exceptional contributions to today's spiritual renaissance. Click on the title link to read the full review.
Ageless Soul: The Lifelong Journey Toward Meaning and Joy
By Thomas Moore
An uncommonly good companion for your spiritual journey as an elder.
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
By His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams
An illuminating dialogue on the eight pillars of the spiritual practice of joy.
Boundless Heart: The Buddha's Path of Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity
By Christina Feldman
An exploration of the art of nurturing the relational qualities known as the Four Immeasurables.
Buddha's Little Book of Life: Daily Wisdom from the Great Masters, Teachers, and Writers of All Time
By Mark Zocchi
A robust and edifying collection of inspirational wisdom from different traditions.
Climbing the Rope to God: Mystical Testimony and Teaching
By Bradford and Hillary Keeney
A spiritual rollercoaster ride through six months of visionary dreams.
Crafting Gratitude: Creating and Celebrating Our Blessings with Hands and Heart
By Maggie Oman Shannon
40 crafts projects with directions and resources to make thanksgiving a practice in everyday life.
The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters
By Tom Nichols
A hard-hitting and edifying examination of the consequences of anti-intellectualism and egalitarianism in the United States.
Enlightened Aging: Building Resilience for a Long, Active Life
By Eric B. Larson & Joan DeClaire
An examination of resilience, proactivity, acceptance and other keys to healthy aging.
The Evolution of Imagination
By Stephen T. Asma
A fascinating exploration of the imagination and improvisation in all creative activities.
Fearless Dialogues: A New Movement for Justice
By Gregory C. Ellison II
A presentation of a process for bringing together people to create positive change.
The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully
By Frank Ostaseki
Deep and profound wisdom about death as a constant companion.
The Five Longings: What We've Always Wanted and Already Have
By David Richo
A creative and practical exploration of the spiritual practice of yearning.
Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism
By Fumio Saski
A reflection on the minimalist path that takes to heart the value of austerity and thrift.
Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy
By Anne Lamott
Worthwhile musings on grace, faith, mercy, and service.
Happier?: The History of a Cultural Movement That Aspired to Transform America
By Daniel Horowitz
An astonishing work of cultural analysis on changes in the field of psychology.
Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
A prophetic witness to the pain and suffering of people of color perpetrated by the police, the courts, and the prisons.
Holistic Islam: Sufism, Transformation & The Challenge of Our Time
By Kabir Helminski
A fresh understanding of Sufism as offering a spirituality adequate to our times with its purpose of drawing near as a friend of God.
Holy Spokes: The Search for Urban Spirituality on Two Wheels
By Laura Everett
A minister's experiences making bicycling into her spiritual practice.
Hunter of Stories
By Eduardo Galeano
Galeano’s last book in which he encourages us to sing our souls back in sync with the Earth.
Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide for Your Child's Spiritual Formation
By Jared Patrick Boyd
Ways for parents to nurture the inner life of their children through spiritual formation and imagination.
In Search of a Prophet: A Spiritual Journey with Kahlil Gibran
By Paul-Gordon Chandler
A portrait of the multi-talented man who wrote The Prophet.
Living Compassion: Loving Like Jesus
By Andrew Dreitcer
A guide for Christians to practicing the path of radical love, including of enemies.
Loving-Kindness in Plain English: The Practice of Metta
By Bhante Gunaratana
A helpful resource on loving-friendliness, a major component of Buddhist practice.
Meister Eckhart's Book of the Heart: Meditations for the Restless Soul
By Jon M. Sweeney & Mark S. Burrows
A collection of playful and sobering poems from the thirteen-fourteenth century Christian mystic.
Motherprayer: Lessons in Loving
By Barbara Mahany
A soulful, lyrical, and transformative classic in everyday spirituality.
Ninety-Nine Names of the Beloved: Intimations of the Beauty and Power of the Divine
By Camille Hamilton Adams Helminski
Poetic reflections on the the many ways the qualities of the Divine can be experienced in our lives.
No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America
By Ron Powers
A strong argument for doing much more to help mentally ill people.
No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are
By Jack Kornfield
An affirmation of freedom as a gateway to experiences of love, joy, beauty, and learning from our mistakes.
The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy
By John Brehm
A superb collection of 125 poems, by Buddhist and non-Buddhist poets, on essential concepts in Buddhism.
The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters
By Emily Esfahani Smith
A persuasive book on the importance of the quest for meaning in everyday life.
Prayer Seeds: A Gathering of Blessings, Reflections, and Poems for Spiritual Growth
By Joyce Rupp
A to-be-treasured resource of prayers that serve as seeds of new life.
Radical Spirit: 12 Ways to Live a Free and Authentic Life
By Joan Chittister
A practical presentation of the Twelve Steps of Humility from the Rule of St. Benedict.
Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection
By Sharon Salzberg
A guidebook on loving ourselves and others, filled with useful mindfulness exercises and meditations.
Reclaiming Your Body: Healing from Trauma and Awakening to Your Body's Wisdom
By Suzanne Scurlock-DuranaA process for reconnecting with your body in order to experience the rapture of being alive.
Rumi's Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love
By Brad Gooch
A remarkably detailed biography of the Sufi mystic's life and work.
Silence: In the Age of Noise
By Erling Kagge
An exploration of the riches of silence and the pleasures it can bring into your life.
The Song of Life: Native American Wisdom
By Helen Exley
An enchanting collection of songs and sayings from the Native American spiritual tradition.
10 Years of KidSpirit
By Various Authors & Elizabeth Dabney Hochman
A superb sampler of youth-written and edited articles, poetry, and original art from the online journal.
Things That Join the Sea and the Sky: Field Notes on Living
By Mark Nepo
Journal entries from one of our favorite spiritual teachers who encourages us to sail on a sea of possibilities.
This Is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature
By Ahdaf Soueif & Omar Robert Hamilton
Stirring essays and poems by artists from around the world on the plight of the Palestinians.
To Hear the Forest Sing: Some Musings on the Divine
By Margaret Dulaney
Meditative essays on divine themes in everyday life.
The Way of Gratitude: Readings for a Joyful Life
By Michael Leach, James T. Keane, & Doris Goodnough
A top-drawer collection of readings saluting all the benefits of gratefulness.
We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matter
By Celeste Headlee
A bold and wise book about the skills needed to have our conversations open the doors to new possibilities.
Wendell Berry and the Given Life
By Ragan Sutterfield
A timely and relevant summary of the life and work of Wendell Berry.
Where the Dead Pause and the Japanese Say Goodbye: A Journey
By Marie Mutsuki Mockett
An exquisitely written account of a pilgrimage to Japan by a middle-aged American experiencing a whirlpool of grief.
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
By Nancy Isenberg
An engrossing historical work on the strange and long-lasting presence of class in American democracy.
The Wisdom of Not Knowing: A Gathering of Blessings, Reflections, and Poems for Spiritual Growth
By Estelle Frankel
A consummate meaning-maker at work mining the mysticism of Judaism and other religions.
The Wisdom of the Body: A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
By Christine Valters Paintner
A lively, creative, and expansive vision of a spirituality of the body.
The World Wisdom Bible: A New Testament for Global Spirituality
By Rami Shapiro
A collection of sacred texts illustrating the sweep of global spirituality.
Yawn: Adventures in Boredom
By Mary Mann
An inventive collection of essays probing modern restlessness and alienation.
Children's Books
The Blue Hour
By Isabelle Simler
A gorgeous book illustrating many examples of blues in nature.
The Call of the Swamp
By Davide Cali
A delightful picture book about the identity crisis of a youngster adopted from a swamp.
A Good Day for a Hat
By T. Nat Fuller
A clever picture book that encourages the spiritual practice of imagination.
Love You Too
By Alastair Heim
A call-and-response book about a day's activities.
Pandora
By Victoria Turnbull
An enchanting picture book about loneliness, nurturing, kindness, loss, and renewal.
Today I Feel . . .: An Alphabet of Feelings
By Madalena Moniz
A cleverly illustrated book that helps build a vocabulary of feelings.
Wake Up, City!
By Erica Silverman
An inspirational walk through a city with a father and his young daughter who tutor us in the arts of attention and imagination.
The Want Monsters: And How They Stopped Ruling My World
By Chelo Manchego
A delightful spiritual parable about wants, embracing the greedy self, and befriending our troublesome emotions.
What Do You Love About You?
By Karen Lechelt
A wonderful children's book about self-esteem.
Where Are You Hiding, God?
By Elisabeth Zarti
A child's introduction to panentheism through beautifully illustrated scenes of hide-and-seek.
